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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.*Related content and download information correct at time of download. Farhat AbbasSection of Urology, Department of Surgery, Aga Khan University, Karachi, PakistanAbstract Purpose -The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office has emphasized health system strengthening among the top five strategic priorities. One of the integral elements of health systems are the hospitals. The purpose of this paper is to review the need for formalized training in hospital management to improve the quality of care. Design/methodology/approach -Literature review and hands on experience of conducting a regional training in hospital management for Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countries.Findings -Majority of patients in EMR bypass Primary Health Care facilities due to inadequate quality of services and prefer seeking specialized care at a tertiary level. There is mounting evidence of mediocre to poor patient satisfaction due to inefficient health care practices in hospitals of EMR. Strengthening the management capacity of the hospitals through a formal training programme is therefore necessary for improving the performance of health care delivery and the overall health system. Hospital management encompasses hospital planning and operational activities including development and implementation of organizational strategies to ensure adequate numbers and quality of trained human resources and effective financial management, disaster management, health management information system utilization, support services, biomedical engineering, transport and waste management. Such training will prepare health care professionals with leadership skills to deliver quality hospital services. Originality/value -This is one of the first papers emphasizing the need for a formal structured regional training in hospital management for the countries of EMR. A modular incremental training approach developing an EMR Credit Transfer and Accumulation system is proposed.

BackgroundUptake of family planning services in Pakistan has remained slow over the past decade despite a rapid increase in availability and awareness, indicating that social barriers may be preventing uptake. Social barriers such as opposition by family members have largely been studied qualitatively; there is a lack of quantitative evidence about the effect of different family members’ opposition on women’s intention to use contraceptives. The objective of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the effect of family members’ opposition to family planning on intention to use contraception amongst poor women in Pakistan who have physical access to family planning services.MethodsAn unmatched case control study (nested within a larger cohort study) was conducted in two public hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to compare risk factors between women that were not intending to use any contraceptive methods in the future (cases) and women that were planning to use contraceptive methods (controls).Results248 cases and 496 controls were included in the study. Negative contraceptive intent was associated with no knowledge of contraception (AOR = 3.79 [2.43-5.90]; p < 0.001), husband’s opposition (AOR = 21.87 [13.21-36.21]; p < 0.001) and mother-in-law’s opposition (AOR = 4.06 [1.77-9.30]; p < 0.001).ConclusionsThis study is the first to quantitatively assess the effect of opposition by different family members on women’s contraceptive intent in Pakistan. Our results indicate that of all family members, husband’s opposition has the strongest effect on women’s intention to use contraception, even when the women have knowledge of and physical access to family planning services.

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This study qualitatively investigates what factors apart from or in addition to financial incentives can encourage better performance of frontline health care providers. We interviewed health sector managers in Pakistan, Cambodia and China, and they highlighted many potential limitations in the applicability of financial incentives in their contexts. There was a consistent view that providers are not always primarily driven by monetary rewards and that non-monetary rewards – such as recognition from direct supervisors and career development – could have a greater influence on performance. Managers also highlighted several challenges related to the design and implementation of performance management schemes: supervisors may not have performance information necessary to determine which agents to reward; when performance information is available, organisational culture may value other attributes such as social ties or years of experience; finally, concentration of power at higher levels of the health system can reduce supervisors’ ability to manage performance, rewards and accountability. Although health sector managers were enthusiastic about measures to improve performance of providers, our study indicated that specific social, cultural and health system factors may mean that non-monetary rewards and structural changes to support a more transparent and meritocratic working environment should also be considered.